Indonesia: palm oil comany and army kill villager as land conflict escalates in PT AP in Jambi, Sumatra

In a further tragic escalation of the long running land conflict between palm oil developer PT Asiatic Persada and the local Batin Sembilan peoples, also referred to as Suku Anak Dalam, soldiers from the Indonesian army took a villager into custody in the company premises last week after which he was tortured and brutalised. When others protested, five of them were also rounded up, arrested and beaten up. Meanwhile other protesting villagers were chased away by the army repeatedly firing off their weapons. One of those arrested was so badly beaten he had to be taken to hospital where he subsequently died a few hours later, allegedly still in handcuffs. PT AP was until April 2013 a subsidiary of the giant palm oil company, Wilmar which sold the concession to the current owners while in the middle of negotiation to resolve the land dispute, being mediated by the Compliance Advisor Ombudsman of the International Finance Corporation. Wilmar recently announced it was adopting a 'No Deforestation, No Peat, No Exploitation' policy. Briefing in English and Bahasa Indonesia